Shoe last or form.



PATENTBD MAY 10, 1904.

H. B. WALKER.

SHOE LAST OR FORM.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 26, 1903.

' no MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented May 10, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

-SHOE LAST on FORM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 759,333, dated May 10, 1904.

Application filed August 26,1903. Serial No. 170,851. (No model.)

To alt whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRY B. VALKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brockton, in the county of Plymouth, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe Lasts or Forms, of which the following is a specification.-

My invention relates to improvements in shoe lasts or forms, and has for its object to provide such an article constructed of a single integral piece of material capable of automatically contracting as to its width in order that it may be readily inserted. into and withdrawn from a boot or shoe, may be adapted for use with shoes of different widths, and to compensate for shrinking and swelling of the material of which the article is made, and capable of filling out the fore part of the upper of a boot or shoe when the leather is in a green or unsettled or in a dry, seasoned, or settled state.

To the end stated my invention consists in a boot or shoe last or form constructed as hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan View, and. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view.

In the drawings and the following specification my invention is illustrated in a heelless shoe last or form, as it is particularly intended for use in the finishing stages of the manufacture of boots and shoes after the soling and leveling of the sole has been accomplished,

and as a shoe-form to smoothly fill out the fore part of the upper of boots and shoes for exhibition purposes, as in a show-case or window, in which uses a heel portion is not essential, as the heel-stiffener construction of boots and shoes serves in itself to maintain the form of that portion of the boot or shoe. My invention, however, is not restricted to a heelless last or form.

In the said drawings, the reference-numeral 1 designates the crown portion of the last, which may be provided with a socket 2 for the reception of a suitable implement to be used in inserting into and withdrawing the last from the boot or shoe. This element, however, is not essential when the last or form is of the heelless type, as then it may be readily inserted and withdrawn by hand. The fore part of the last is solid, as shown, and is provided with slits or kerfs 3, running from the side edges thereof into and terminating in the body of the fore part of the last, providing opposite marginal resilient wings 4, which are capable of yielding inwardly as occasion may require. These integral resilient wings 4 are disposed approximately at opposite sides of the major width of the fore part of the last, where they are most useful. The slits or kerfs 3 preferably terminate in approximately circular formation, as shown, to avoid the possibility of splitting of the material of which the last is constructed when the resilient wings yield to reduce the transverse dimension of the last.

Commercially shoe forms or lasts are constructed of wood, usually of maple, basswood, or poplar, which is liable to swelling or shrinkage, according to the state of the weather. In dry weather the last shrinks and does not perfectly fill out the fore part of the boot or shoe upper for which it was intended, and when in damp weather the last swells it is very difi icult of insertion into and withdrawal from the boot or shoe for which it was intended and has a tendency to stretch the fore part of the upper abnormally and cause it to become misshapen. Lasts constructed according to my invention avoid these objections because of the integral resilient side Wings 4:, which yield to admit the ready insertion and withdrawal of the last, and by reason of their resiliency operate to expand from contracted position to effectively fill out the fore part of the upper of the boot or shoe, whether the last shall have shrunken or swollen, accordingto the state of the weather, or whether the leather of the boot or shoe shall be in a green or settled state. The last of my invention is also capable of being used effectively either as a follower-last in shoe manufacture or as an exhibition'form for shoes of different widths, because it is capable of contracting by reason of the yielding na ture of the resilient wings I to it into shoes of sizes smaller than the maximum width of the shoe for which the last is adapted. The resilient wings are disposed, as shown, at opposite sides of the ball or maximum width portion of the last that is to say, at a place which when the last is inserted into the boot or shoe Will be located and operate intermediate the toe and heel stiffener, Where contractibility to compensate for the conditions above specified is most desirable.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A shoe last or former having a solid fore part provided with a slit or kerf running from a side edge thereof into and terminating in said fore part and forming an integral, re-

silient, marginal wing located approximately at the ball portion of the last.

HARRY B. WALKER.

Witnesses:

WM. L. PUFFER, CLARENCE C. PUFFER. 

